Chapter 8 - Companions?

After spending a total of half my time holding the sign I finally got some replies, specifically from a team of 5 which just happens to be what I need to complete the quest.

"Hey were from Deathly Smile, we wish to sign up for your mission."

My face lit up. "Welcome, if you wish to join my quest, you'll have to leave your current party and allow me to invite you."

"Okay." After they said that they left their party and waited for my invitation.

"Sent." two minutes later they all joined my party and I got a notification.

[Quest Completed]

[Reward - 100 Beginner Village Reputation, 10 Silver, 100 EXP.]

[Quest Received]

[You have now assembled your squad, its time to give your squad orders.]

"So what do you lot want to do?" I asked with a nervous smile.

"Anything." Was the reply I got.

I went to my quest tab and there I found a list of quests I could give to my squad.

[Quest Given]

[Quest patrol Inside the western wall has been given. 0/5 Accepted.]

"I've sent you a quest, you can accept it now." Soon after saying that my quest updated.

[Quest - Patrol inside the western wall. 5/5 Accepted.]

"I don't know what to do now, I suppose it's up to you 5 to go patrol and come back when you've done."

2 hours later and they're back. "We've done the quest you've assigned us."

Soon after I got another notification

[Quest- Patrol Inside the western wall has been completed.]

[Reward (You) - 50 Beginner Village Reputation, 1 Silver, 50 EXP.]

[Reward (Squad) - 20 Beginner Village Reputation - Each, 2 SIlver - Each, 150 EXP - Each.]

"Hope to work together next time." I said before disbanding the party and heading towards the village elder.

"Village elder, tell me what can I do with reputation points?"

"Various things, most importantly you can raise your rank within the army, but that's only inside this village, outside you can convert reputation points from here for a chosen city/town of your choice which will is currently priced at 5/1, 5 points here for 1 point outside, other than that you can buy skills and equipment, also I have noticed that you have filled 0 of your 3 subclasses, I suggest you go for either blacksmithing, alchemy or enchanting, each will cost a lot of both money and time."

'Well, that information was somewhat useful and useless at the same time, anyway let's check it out.'

"Where can I find the blacksmith."

"Every guild has several, same with alchemists and enchanters."

After receiving that information I go to the Thieves guild.

"I'm here to see the blacksmith." I say to the receptionist.

"Sure, upstairs 2nd/3rd/4th/5th/6th on your left, each contains a different blacksmith." The receptionist replied.

I head upstairs and take this 2nd door on the left, sitting inside by a forge is a dwarf, ' huh didn't see them on the character race selection, maybe there not fully developed yet.'

"I'm here to learn blacksmithing, can you help me?"

"Sure, give me 5 Silvers." After the blacksmith says that I give him 5 Silvers.

[Congratulations, You have become a beginner smith.]

I immediately check my smithing level and requirements to level up.

[Smithing level: 1 1/100.]

"So how do I improve my smithing level?" I ask the blacksmith who has yet to introduce himself.

"I'll assign you tasks every now and then, you complete them, gain rewards and some proficiency during it, simple."

"Oh and also I'm called Thistaec Ironfist, remember it because I'm not going to tell you again, also here's your first task."

[Quest Received]

[Smelt Iron ore into Iron Ingot.]

I pick up a hammer that's left on the side and slowly get on with the forging process.

5 minutes later and now I'm done, tired as hell but done.

[Quest Completed]

[You have smelted Iron ore with a quality of (3)]

[Reward - 1 Reputation, 1 Copper, 1 EXP]

"Well, that's definitely something." Said Ironfist sarcastically.

"Really? It's pretty hard you know." I said without even thinking.

"Okay, next time make the quality at least (10) if not you won't get any rewards, but you will still gain proficiency." That's when it hit me to check my proficiency in blacksmithing.

[Smithing level: 1 2/100.]

I almost ran into a brick wall, I spent 10 minutes hitting iron essentially, 10 minutes and all I got was for 1 point...

Before I asked for the next quest I received a call from Deathly Smile, they wanted to do another quest since my rewards seemed to be double that of receiving them from the adventurers guild, I set them up for checking the passports of all those who enter through the western gate and carried on with hitting iron ore into iron ingots despite not being given a quest for it.

2 hours later and my steam ran out, I was done with smithing.

[Smithing level: 1 15/100.]

After checking out my current proficiency I logged out, got ready for sleep and went to sleep.

....

Waking up the next day I changed my routine, I had cereal for once, then went back into the capsule and started playing the game.

I logged back into the same place, inside the forging room with the same blacksmith.

Looking at my notifications it seems like something happened since I have over 50 messages yet only a handful of people know my username, I clicked on the first one.

"Got a new quest for us?" then the next "You there?" and the next "Hey, are you going to give us a quest?" I took a quick glance at the rest and noticed they all contained roughly the same content, so I decided to send one back.

"Hello." It was simple, but I'm only doing this to get his attention.

"So, you're finally going to give us a quest then?" He replied almost instantly.

"Sure." I give them a quest and go back to smashing ores into bars.

.....

4 hours later, they have completed 3 quests and I have finally levelled up my smithing.

You see there is a trick for doing this, its similar to real-life smithing you need to make the right adjustments and you're able to increase the quality and increased quality means I make more EXP.

I send my 'Companions' off on another quest and start hitting my final iron ore.

Halfway done and it's looking great, hopefully, this one will be able to interest Ironfist.

3/4 done and its really shiny, which is weird after all iron is supposed to look like a dull grey, whats with this shiny grey colour.

I finished and examined it. [Iron Ingot (Quality: 11)].

"Hey what do I do with this Iron bar?"

"It's called an ingot idiot and that's fairly good. you managed to get it over 10 which is pretty rare." After he took the bar in his hands and started to squeeze, it started to disfigure, changed into multiple different shapes before the dwarf blacksmith revealed a smile.

"Great, truly great. I'll help you make a sword out of this, you come back in say 2 days, after that you'll be able to leave the beginner village either as a blacksmith apprentice or as a level 10 it doesn't really matter."

"What do you mean leave as a blacksmiths apprentice?"

"Well, every different professional receives 1 recommendation every month, using that recommendation we can send you to any city of your choice as long as it has a guild of that profession since I'm a blacksmith you must go to a city with a Blacksmithing Guild."

"Okay, see you in 2 days." And just like that, I walked out of the room towards the reception desk to accept an assassination mission.

"Assassination mission list." I said to the receptionist.

[Kill Earl Remmington]

[Kill Mage Aramor.]

[Kill Bandit Leader Damned.]

"I'll take the bandit leader, can I invite people to come with me?"

"Sure, you can share the quest with others, but they will only get half of the rewards that you get unless they are part of the same guild in which case they receive the same amount." The receptionist replied

I walk outside the Thieves guild and contact Deathly Smile.

"Help me with a quest?" Simple and straight to the point.

"Sure, what am we doing?" "Simply killing one Bandit Leader Damned." It went silent for a couple of seconds. "Okay." That was all he said before he invited me to a party.

[Party Joined.]

[Party Leader: Deathly Smile.]

[Party Member: Deathly Senator]

[Party Member: Deathly Lead]

[Party Member: Deathly Demon]

[Party Member: Deathly Spring]

[Party Member: Deathly Decay]

[Party Member: Deathly Glutton]

[Party Member: Blood Rose]

I invite them all to the quest.

"So do we know where he is at?" The moment I said that everyone looked at me like I was an idiot.

"Go to your quests tab and click track, not all quests have this function but while you are in the beginner village you will always be able to use this function."

I don't know who said it but after they did I turned on the function, a couple of miles outside of the eastern wall was where the bandit leader was located.

As we walked some small talk happened.

"So why does your guarding the western wall quest give more than the NPCs? Are you an NPC." Deathly Decay asked.

"No idea, but I do know that you should be able to do the same too." I gave them a hint.

"Are you sure? How?" I used to be somewhere in the middle of the party, but after they started asking questions I was suddenly moved towards the front.